Scott Fife,”Steve McQueen,” ink wash on paper, 2006 Embarrassing things include snores, burps, farts, sags, bloats, fat rolls, filthy feet and all manner of bodily f-ups, none of which include beauty, which is why the title, “Beauty is Embarrassing,” is intriguing. Seattle’s Scott Fife is participating in the show of that title at Western * Project in Culver City, July 21-Sept. 8, along with Kris Chatterson, Roman Opalka, Carter Potter, Arne Svenson, Wayne White and Yek. …

Lois Lane, Cultural Detective and Reporter for the People Seattle Art News is doing an excellent job of keeping up with the day to day as well as featuring artists and offering reactions. I especially liked her take on the McLeod Residence, here. Personally, I’m as yet too mystified by McLeod to have written anything, so I see what she means, assuming the person behind Seattle Art News is a she. …

The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye in Kent, where Peter Reiquam’s trio of 17-foot, painted steel cornstalks, each carrying five ripe to bursting ears, stand at the Willis Street gateway near state Route 167. …

News sources are making a big deal out of new words given a dictionary pat-on-the-head in the latest edition of Merriam-Webster. MW now recognizes ginormous, smackdown, crunk, Bollywood and speed dating (AP story on PI Web site here, Wired here). …

Zoe Leonard’s”Mouth Open, Teeth Showing,” a room full of well-used dolls in military formation, 2000 Over the weekend, I failed to entice my 10-year-old neice, Jenna O’Neil, into dropping by the Henry Art Gallery. …